Ex-MLB player's baseball diamond rough on neighbor
May 9—One family's field of dreams just might be another family's nightmare. That's the situation in one South Chandler neighborhood.
Former Major League Baseball All-Star J.J. Hardy is adding a miniature baseball field to his property and part of it is a 20-foot-tall fence that acts as the backstop behind home plate.
The neighbor who lives across a small street from the property doesn't appreciate the view.
"I don't really want to go around complaining about something like this," said Pam Lang, the neighbor who lives across the street. "The thing is, it's so close to my house.
"Obviously, I don't care what people do in their yards, I'm not trying to kill anybody's joy in life, I just don't want to be affected by it."
Hardy played with three teams (Brewers, Twins and Orioles) during his 12-year MLB career, making the All-Star teams in 2007 and 2013. He won three gold gloves as a shortstop and a Silver Slugger Award in 2013.
Satellite photos show that in addition to the mini-baseball field, which is mostly an infield, he also has a tennis court and a putting green on his property.
An email was sent to Hardy's agent during his playing days, seeking his comments on the situation. It was not returned.
Lang said she went over to Hardy's home to ask about what he was building.
"Construction had been going on for several weeks," Lang said. "I was hearing a lot of things happening, but I didn't see it. Then, one day, giant poles went up. I went over and asked him at that point, ... he told me it was going to be a baseball field."
Lang said she couldn't believe the city would allow such large fences (it does not). She said Hardy told her he lives on a county island and therefore did not have to follow Chandler's limitations.
Lang filed a complaint with the Maricopa County Planning & Development Department. After an investigation, it told Hardy he was in violation of their code for building without a permit.
Hardy filed the permit application and it is currently being reviewed, according to Fields Moseley, director of the county communications office.
Moseley said that if the application is approved, it will resolve the violation that forced construction to stop.
"RU-43 allows a maximum height of 30 feet within the building envelope," county planner Daniel Johnson wrote in an email.
Johnson said the building permits were being reviewed as of April 16. Lang said Hardy was very polite, but kept saying that it was a county island so he was allowed to build his fence.
Lang said she works from home, and that anytime she's in her kitchen she can see the fence. Her other worry is that Hardy told her he planned to put lights up so they could enjoy the space at night.
"If there's going to be noise, it's going to be visually ugly, there's going to be lights, it's a lot of things, it's not just a minor nuisance."
Lang said she didn't know the land next to her home was a county island when she bought her home six years ago.
She said she has spoken to other neighbors about her plight.
"The people in this cul-de-sac are all a little concerned too, but they don't get as much of it as I do, so people tend not to care unless it affects them directly."
Lang reiterated that she doesn't like being the squeaky wheel and that in general she supports people doing what they want on their property.
Speaking in general about property rights and not this specific case, she said:
"Everybody cannot have the same freedom as somebody is getting infringed upon. They're not really supporting freedom, they're supporting some people's right to take freedom from other people."
